Foresta 1 Matt Foresta Professor Christopher Astronomy 5 Honors 23 April 2012 Podcast #3 1) Encore: Earth Clones 2) 4/19/2012 3) University

of Arizona Professor Chris Impey is the podcasts author. Impey is a distinguished professor with many accolades, and he has even authored some textbooks. I believe he is qualified to talk about astronomy because of his diverse experience in the field, from teaching to research, and the fact that he has so many credentials to his name. With all these things going for him it is unlikely he is unqualified. 4) I chose this podcast because I am interested in extra-solar planets. I believe they are the most interesting topic in astronomy and wanted to learn more about them. 5) This podcast explained how we would go about finding extra-solar planets that are very similar to the Earth. The podcast states that we have discovered many extrasolar planets, but they are mostly gas giants with little chance of harboring life. However, it is believed there are many Earth like planets. The trouble is finding them. The podcast states that taking a direct image and using the Doppler effect will not work. It does state that the eclipse method shows promise. This method involves looking for Earth like planets eclipsing their stars once every orbit. The Kepler spacecraft is looking for this phenomenon, and it is hoped it will begin discovering Earth like planets in the coming years. The podcast ends by saying that once we find all the conditions for life on a planet, it will only be a matter of time before we detect life. 6) I was amazed to learn how many Earth like planets there are just in our galaxy. The thought of their being millions seems inconceivable, but the podcast is very convincing. I also learned just how hard it is to detect extra solar planets the size of Earth. All in all it was a very interesting podcast.